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When Charter Communications lost 14,000 e-mail accountsand, apparently, all of the data that was stored on the servers regarding those accountsI said to myself, "This cannot be much of a big deal since they are probably backing everything up every 4 hours or so."

Now I'm told there are no backups. (Hello, people. You can buy a terabyte drive at Costco for a few hundred dollars.)

This is disconcerting, to say the least. Unfortunately, there is a long-established trend in the combined world of online applications and onerous terms-of-service agreements that hold companies blameless for everything. If there is no backup provided by your ISP or your e-mail provider (or even Google or Yahoo! mail accounts) and your account gets deleted, then too bad for you.

Even if a claim is made that you'll be protected, you can rest assured that the terms-of-service and terms-of- use agreements, which have been proved to be legally binding, will negate any responsibility on the part of the provider no matter what promises or agreements were made elsewhere.next: Outrageous Demands >

John Dvorak is a columnist for PCMag.com and the host of the weekly TV video podcast CrankyGeeks. His work is licensed around the world. Previously a columnist for Forbes, Forbes Digital, PC World, Barrons, MacUser, PC/Computing, Smart Business and other magazines and newspapers. Former editor and consulting editor for Infoworld. Has appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, SF Examiner, Vancouver Sun. Was on the start-up team for CNet TV as well as ZDTV. At ZDTV (and TechTV) was host of Silicon...
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